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VEGETARIAN VIEW
Pinto beans are comfort food
By
Orlando Ramirez
Copley News Service
Growing up in a Mexican-American household,
there was always a pot of beans either cooking on the stove or waiting in the
refrigerator to be made into refried beans.
At the time, it didn't matter to me that
beans are one of the best sources of protein for vegetarians. For me, they were
that staple of life. I could've eaten beans and fresh, hot tortillas for the
rest of my life.
Older, and with more diverse tastes, I
still return to beans as a comfort food par excellence. More than that, a pot of
beans can get you through a week of meals in different guises if you're too
harried to cook at dinnertime.
They can serve as a basis of a quick bean
burrito. Just add a little cheese and salsa, wrap it up in a tortilla and you
have all the proteins, minerals and vitamins for a whole day.
Later, you can mash them and make refried
beans for dinner or, you can take a pot and add some chili powder and vegetables
and they'll become chili beans, as in the recipes that follow.
The first recipe, from "A Cowboy in
the Kitchen" By Grady Spears and Robb Walsh (Tenspeed Press), is a
straightforward way to dress up pinto beans. Spears uses the overnight soaking
method for cooking the beans, which is fine if you have the time.
Another way to cook pintos quick is to
place the pintos in a pot and add water to cover by about 1 1/2 to 2 inches.
Bring to a boil and let boil for about 10 to 15 minutes. A scum will form on the
surface. Remove that with a spoon, then simmer 30 to 45 minutes until tender. In
the last 10 minutes, add salt to taste.
The second recipe is from "Just Add
Water" from Lauren Chattman (Morrow), and cooks the beans in a flavorful
liquid spiced with chipotle chilies. Chipotles are smoked jalapenos that are
canned in flavorful adobo sauce. Look among the Latin foods at your supermarket
or visit a Mexican grocery store.
RANCH BEANS
4 cups dried pinto beans
4 cups minced yellow onions, plus 1 1/2
cups diced
1/2 cup pure chili powder
1/4 cup salt
1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups diced red bell pepper
2 cups diced green bell pepper
Yields
10 servings.
Wash beans and sort through them to remove any foreign particles and broken
beans.
In stockpot, cover beans with cold water by
6 inches and soak them 6 hours or overnight. Be sure beans remain covered with
water during soaking process.
Drain beans and return them to same pan.
Cover with fresh water by 1 1/2 inches. Add the minced onions, chili powder,
salt and cilantro; stir to blend.
Bring beans to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce heat, cover and cook until beans are tender, about 2 1/2 hours. From time
to time, check and stir beans. If necessary, add water as needed.
Near end of cooking time liquid should be
almost absorbed.
Close to serving time, heat olive oil in
large saute pan. When oil is very hot, add diced onion and peppers and cook
quickly about 6 minutes, stirring and tossing until crisp but tender. Stir
mixture into beans. Serve at once.
MEXICAN RED BEANS WITH
CHIPOTLE CHILIES AND
CILANTRO
2 cups dried red kidney or pinto beans
1 medium-size onion, peeled and finely
chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, finely
chopped, or more or less to taste
2 tablespoons adobo sauce from a can
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
leaves
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Yields
4 servings.
Sort through beans, removing any stones. Rinse and drain in colander.
Combine the onion, vegetable oil, garlic,
chilies, adobo sauce, brown sugar, cumin and water in large saucepan and bring
to a simmer. Add beans and bring to a simmer again. Cover and cook at bare
simmer over low heat until beans are tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Stir in lime juice and cilantro, season
with salt and pepper, and serve.
Orlando Ramirez is food editor for the
Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise. You can e-mail him at [email protected].
Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
(c) Copley News Service
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VEGETARIAN VIEW
Corn salads perfect for outdoor
dining
By
Orlando Ramirez
Copley News Service
Corn on the cob. Maybe cream corn from a
can. Those are the most popular ways to serve corn. Not that they're bad. Its
just that there is so much more to the flavor and texture of corn.
In Mexico, you can find corn ice cream, an
idea some adventurous chefs this side of the border have taken to. Why? Because
they understand that the basic flavor component of corn is sweetness.
When you bite into corn on the cob, what
you're tasting is sugar. That's why it is so delicious rubbed with melted butter
and seasoned with salt. The sweet and salty flavors play off against so many
taste buds that your brain goes into a tizzy. And isn't that what good cooking
is about - setting off as many neural receptors as possible?
Corn salads are a good way to get those
receptors working without the mess of corn on the cob. The hard part is getting
the corn off the cob. There are packages of frozen corn kernels, and those work
well, but with corn plentiful and cheap right now, the extra effort of stripping
the kernels off the cob are worth it.
One trick I find helpful is to trim one or
both ends so that you have a flat surface on which to balance the unwieldy cob.
Then take a sharp kitchen knife and cut down with even pressure and motion.
Don't worry if you don't get all of the kernels. Perfection is best left to
professional chefs.
The other thing about corn salads is that
they are perfect for outdoor eating, particularly if they have been sitting in
the refrigerator for a while and then brought to room temperature for serving.
The first recipe is from "A Good Day
for Salad" by Louise Fiszer and Jeannette Ferrary (Chronicle Books). It is
easy to make and utilizes frozen lima beans. If you want, use frozen peas and
corn to make this an easy picnic dish.
The second recipe, from Wildwood:
"Cooking From the Source in the Pacific Northwest" by Cory Schreiber (Tenspeed
Press), is a tad more complicated. The recipe calls for roasting the corn under
a broiler, but if you are doing some backyard grilling, it would seem just as
easy to roast the corn on the grill and then set it aside to make the recipe
later.
SUCCOTASH SALAD
2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4
ears)
2 cups frozen baby lima beans
2 cups peas
1/2 cup chopped scallions
Buttermilk Dressing:
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Yields
4 servings
Cook corn, lima beans and peas in salted boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain
under cold water and cool.
In small bowl, whisk all dressing
ingredients together.
In large bowl, combine corn, lima beans,
peas and scallions. Toss with dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
ROASTED CORN AND
BASIL SALAD
8 ears corn, husks and silk removed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, roasted, peeled,
seeded and cut into thin strips
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into small
pieces
Grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and cracked
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted and
cracked
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Yields
4 servings.
Preheat broiler. Place corn on broiler pan and brush with 1 tablespoon of oil.
Broil 4 inches from heat source, turning as corn browns to roast all sides. Let
cool.
Using sharp knife cut kernels from cobs and
put in large bowl. Add roasted bell pepper, red onion and basil; set aside.
In small bowl, whisk together orange zest
and juice, lemon juice, vinegar, cumin and fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Pour
over salad ingredients, tossing to coat. Let stand for 30 minutes before
serving.
Orlando Ramirez is food editor for the
Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise. You can e-mail him at [email protected].
Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
(c) Copley News Service
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VEGETARIAN VIEW
Fried green tomatoes
By
Orlando Ramirez
Copley News Service
A friend stopped me the other day and asked
if there was a particular variety of tomato to be used for making fried green
tomatoes.
I told her that as far as I knew, the
recipe called for unripe tomatoes.
"Are your sure?" she asked.
"Because someone at the store told me that it was a special kind of
tomato."
I had never made fried green tomatoes
before, so I wasn't 100 percent sure. I asked another friend, who grew up in the
South, and she assured me that fried green tomatoes were made with unripe red
tomatoes.
You don't want big, beefsteak tomatoes, she
said. You want nice medium tomatoes that are still firm.
With that advice, I went to my garden and
picked some green tomatoes and experimented. The results were delicious. The
idea is to coat the tomato slices with a cornmeal and flour mixture to get that
good, crisp texture, while the insides of the tart tomato gets a bit soft. The
contrasting textures must be a big reason for the popularity of this dish.
One piece of advice - use a serrated edge,
like a bread knife, to cut the tomatoes into nice, even slices.
As for where to find green tomatoes - its
best to grow your own, or haunt the farmers' markets and roadside stands for
unripe tomatoes.
The first recipe, from "The
African-American Heritage Cookbook" by Carolyn Quick Tillery (Birch Lane
Press), is as down-home a recipe as you can find. The secret is to let the
cornmeal mixture dry onto the tomato slices before frying. For the authentic
taste, bacon drippings are best, but the vegetable oil used here is a good
substitute.
The second recipe is from "The Great
Tomato Book" by Gary Ibsen (Tenspeed Press). This recipe is fancier, calls
for a lot more spices, adds an egg dip to the cornmeal crust, and is then fried
in a mixture of olive oil and butter.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pepper, to taste
5 green tomatoes, sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Yields
4 servings.
Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, and seasonings; coat both sides of tomato slices
with mixture. Place on wire rack and allow to dry 10 minutes.
In large cast-iron skillet, heat shortening
over medium heat and fry tomatoes in single layer. Brown each side lightly.
Serve immediately.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
2 pounds green tomatoes (unripe
tomatoes)
1/4 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Yields
4 to 6 servings.
Slice tomatoes in rounds about 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch thick.
In low bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal,
salt, sugar, garlic powder, lemon pepper, cayenne pepper and black pepper.
In another bowl, whisk together eggs and
water.
Heat olive oil and butter in large, heavy
frying pan over medium-high heat. Dredge each slice of tomato in flour mixture
first, then in egg wash, and then in flour mixture again.
Fry tomato slices until golden brown,
watching carefully to make sure you don't scorch them. As they are done, place
them on paper towels or brown paper bags, to drain excess oil.
Orlando Ramirez is food editor for the
Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise. You can e-mail him at [email protected].
Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
(c) Copley News Service
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